Today We Introduce you to Dustin from Armadillo Dreams
Q: What motivated you to start your shop?
There’s a lot of things that motivated us to start the shop. First, our two children Luciana (born March 2007) and Lincoln (born August 2010). We always wanted to be able to provide them with wooden toys, but they were always super expensive. The second was a desire to do woodworking that I discovered during the summer of 2010 while constructing a backyard chicken coop. I had a lot of fun building it and was sad when the project was completed. I then started dreaming up woodworking projects. Other reasons include the desire to be independent and to be able to devote my professional time to something that I truly enjoy.
Q: What is the story behind your shop name?
The name Armadillo Dreams is a long standing inside joke between my wife and I, but does have a deep meaning. I will say that in essence it is our dream of freedom.
Q: Do you have a favorite Etsy Shop (non-child related)?
Yes, The Man Cave (http://mancavesoapworks.etsy.com/)!!! Their men’s shaving and soap products are the best I have ever used and I am really picky about what I use! They all smell very manly without smelling too strong or too generic. I’ve have the least cuts and razor irritation when using their products out of any I have ever used. Highly recommended!
Q: What surprised you most about having your own craft / online shop?
The thing that surprised me the most was the super kind feedback that we have received from customers and admirers. Everyone I have ever heard from has always had nothing but nice things to say about our wooden toys. Most people don’t just stop at a simple compliment either, a lot of our customers love to go into detail about just what they think makes our toys special. Many people will even blog about our products to help us spread the word about Armadillo Dreams. In all of the jobs I have worked at I have never encountered such nice people. Sadly, I used to think people like that didn’t even exist. It’s just so refreshing to know that there are nice people in the world who are willing to take a small amount of time out of their life to tell someone what a good job they did. The world needs more people like Etsy customers!!!
Q: What do you find most challenging about being an Etsy seller?
I would have to say the hardest thing about having an Etsy shop or being a business owner in general is having a work/life balance, especially during the fourth quarter of the year. I can see where it would be really easy to get so into creating and having fun with the business that one might loose sight of their family. I have to remind myself to take breaks and have family time. I’m not perfect at it, but I work hard at it.
Q: What's your personal philosophy behind your shop / products?
We believe it's important for children to have high quality, natural, simple toys that they can dream, imagine and play with.
Q: How would someone (other then you) describe you?
We are both very hard working and driven to succeed. We are also very involved with our children. We have a huge love of the outdoors and are pretty active. I think most people who really know us would describe us the same way.
Q: What music do you have on while you are creating?
We have music on a lot of the time while we are working, but it really varies widely based on the time of the day or what’s going on. Lately it’s been a lot of blue grass. Sometimes it’s rock. Sometimes it’s ambient. Sometimes it’s something in between.
Q: What do you do when you aren't working?
We have tons of hobbies, but just to name a few of the big ones we enjoy spending time with our children, long walks, camping, fishing, geocaching, gardening, beer brewing, cycling and movies. Amanda also enjoys knitting, sewing, garage/estate sales, and graphics design. Some of this does cross over into work though. It’s hard to know when to call something work or not sometimes!
Q: Anything else you'd like to tell us or share?
In addition to our Etsy shop, we will be launching a full shop and blog on our own website http://armadillodreams.com/. Should be up in the next month or two! You can also follow us on Facebook (http://facebook.com/armadillodreams) or Twitter (http://twitter.com/armadillodreams) for news and our daily specials.
1 comment:
Great post! I love how nice etsy customers are as well. It is always a wonderful boost to get positive feedback.
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